Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Manual - Ipr-policy.eu

Brand Protection Manual
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Employ investigators to track customer history and refuse to do business with
organizations that have been found to trade in counterfeit goods.
Ensure that subcontractors produce only authorized merchandise by performing
audits to make certain that subcontractors are not running “third shifts” to replicate
products for distribution in the illegitimate market.
Production Waste and Damaged or Unusable Inventory
Counterfeiters often prey on scrap yards, waste repositories, or reclamation centers to obtain inferior
goods discarded by brand owners. To deter theft and diversion of these goods, brand owners should:
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Institute policies to certify that production waste and damaged and unusable
products are destroyed or appropriately disposed of.
Have the facilities of the manufacturer or factory inspected to account for all unused
raw materials if a factory is no longer being used by the brand owner or its supplier.
Select one or two trusted charities for product donation to ensure that goods are not
diverted to the gray market and blended back into the legitimate supply chain.
Legitimacy of Purchased Products at Retail Level
Retailers can employ a variety of tools to ensure the legitimacy of purchased products at the retail
level, including:
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Educating buyers on how to assess the legitimacy of the supplier.
Auditing shipments from all sources (especially those that do not come directly
from manufacturers) to verify authenticity of packaging, case markings, pallet
configurations, etc.
Opening product cases to confirm that units have the same batch numbers,
expiration dates, and uniform product codes (UPC).
Employing track and trace methodologies with bar codes or Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID).
Auditing products on the shelves for consistency of packaging, quality, and freshness.
Instituting procedures for authenticating distribution partners and ensuring their
legitimacy, including requiring that products be original and unadulterated and in
manufacturer cartons, cases, or shippers and that original carton case seals be sealed
and unaltered.
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